Brazil block on X comes into effect after judge's order
A block on Elon Musk's X social network in Brazil started to take effect early Saturday after a Supreme Court judge ordered its suspension, according to AFP.
Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes on Friday ordered the suspension of the platform following a months-long standoff with the tech billionaire over disinformation in South America's largest nation.
Moraes handed down the ruling after Musk failed to comply with an order to name a new legal representative for the company.
Early Saturday access to X, formerly known as Twitter, was no longer possible for some users in the South American country, who were presented with a message asking them to reload the browser without being able to log in successfully.
Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX, reacted with fury to the judge's order, branding Moraes an "evil dictator cosplaying as a judge" and accusing him of "trying to destroy democracy in Brazil."
"Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes," the billionaire, who has become increasingly aligned with right-wing politics, wrote on X.
The two have been locked in an ongoing, high-profile feud for months as Moraes leads a battle against disinformation in Brazil.
Musk has previously declared himself a "free speech absolutist," but since he took over the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022 he has been accused of turning it into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories.
He is a vocal supporter of former U.S. president Donald Trump's bid to regain the White House.
Moraes ordered the "immediate, complete and comprehensive suspension of the operation of" X in the country, telling the national communications...
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